DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2012
May
16
 
 
On this day in 2004, CBS presented the miniseries, Helter Skelter, a film based on the 1969 murder spree that left seven people — including actress Sharon Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and supermarket president Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary — dead. Jeremy Davies (Justified, Lost) portrayed convicted killer Charles Manson...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
16
 
 
CBS's plans for the fall 2012 TV season include moving Two and a Half Men and The Mentalist to new nights, and introducing four new series: three dramas, and one comedy. Once again, we offer first impressions, and first available video samples...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
16
 
 
Brick (Atticus Shaffer) benefits from a new arrangement with his mom, entering into what he calls a fragile ecosystem: snitching on his siblings in exchange for candy. He’s driven by the treats – and if you are, too, this sitcom is a TV treat of the first order. 
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
16
 
 
It’s down to the Top Three finalists – and if there’s less buzz than in previous years, because of rival spotlight-sapping talent shows, there’s not necessarily less talent on display at this point. There’s Joshua Ledet, 20, the favorite proclaimed by some judges as perhaps the all-time best vocalist in Idol history. And Phillip Phillips, 21, who approaches most songs with the intent on rearranging them into something strikingly different. And, finally, Jessica Sa
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
16
 
 
Autobiographical aside: When I was a little kid in the mid-Fifties (yeah, I know, but I’m still alive), one of the first children’s books I read, and still remember vividly, was a watercolor-illustrated book about koala bears, lounging around in eucalyptus trees. When I was three, the word “eucalyptus” was sheer magic. (If anyone can figure out which book I was reading, I’ll come up with a suitable TV-related prize.) Today, I know that koalas are marsupials, not b
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
16
 
 
This is not going to go well, but it is going to be funny. Jay (Ed O’Neill) decides to bring up something to Gloria (Sofia Vergara) – namely, that her voice tends to get a little bit loud. Of such offhand observations are epic arguments made. Epic sitcom episodes, too.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
16
 
 
James Van Der Beek, in this episode, gets a phone call from an unscrupulous video distributor, claiming to have in his possession a wild sex tape featuring Van Der Beek and an attractive brunette. The brunette in question is Chloe (Krysten Ritter), but that’s not what concerns James. He’s concerned about how the copy leaked – and all roads lead to June (Dreama Walker).
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
15
 
 
ABC has presented its plans for the 2012-13 TV season. For the fall quarter, five new series are being introduced: three dramas, two sitcoms. Once again, we offer first impressions, and first tastes of video samples…
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
15
 
 
My enthusiastic response to the new PBS American Masters biography, Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, has been echoed by TVWW readers – one of whom admitted to crying at the end, even without having been aware of Carson before. For readers old and new, here’s a treat: the entire two-hour special, courtesy of a shared embed from PBS. – DB
 
 
 
  
 
 
2012
May
15
 
 
In 1989, NBC presented the telefilm Roe vs. Wade, a dramatization of the 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the United States. Holly Hunter portrayed Norma McCorvey (called Ellen Russell in the telefilm), the pseudonymous plaintiff in the landmark case..